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Fatehpur Sikri
(City of Victory)
(City of Victory)
Legend has it that Akbar made a pilgrimage to a renowned Sufi saint, Sheik Salim Chisti, to seek his blessings. The saint predicted that Akbar would have a son. Later, when Akbar had a son (Jahangir), he built Fatehpur Sikri as a tribute to the saint. The city was built from 1571 to 1573, and consisted of a capital building, elaborate palaces (for his favorite wives), formal courtyards, reflecting pools, harems, tombs, and a great mosque. 15 years later, a lack of water supply or possibly some unrest in the north-west prompted Akbar to leave this place and moved to Lahore.
outer courtyard
I love these open-walled structures!
Execution by Elephant! (pdp)*
Many rulers in southeast Asia used elephants as executioners. Akbar took this one step further. He had a favorite royal elephant, who would not only execute criminals, but also be the judge. The elephant handlers staked people that were charged for a crime to the ground, and tried to get the elephant to crush them. Though the elephant crushed thousands of people this way, there were some the elephant refused to crush. Akbar believed this meant they were innocent, and let them go.
Hiran Minar
Akbar's favorite elephant slipped into the river while bathing one day, which lead to his death. He built a monument over his elephant's grave. A red sandstone tower adorned with stone elephant tusks.
A chess board in which Akbar would use dancing girls as chess pieces, call out moves from a high marble throne, and watch them whirl from square to square.
A group of young women all wanted a picture with Susan, "the girl with blonde hair."
intricate decorations on a random pillar
intricate carvings
...and there is more!
They even had a graveyard within the walled city. The grave of Sheikh Salim Chisti (the Sufi saint), is here.
Throughout the morning, our tour guide kept telling us about having our wishes come true. There was a special place he was going to take us, where we can make wishes. "What will you wish for?" he asked. He took us to a place near the graveyard, back behind pillars in an out-of-sight place. Back there, there were several people selling cloths that we were supposed to buy, and only then could we enter the "sacred area," lay down the cloths, and make our wish. The whole thing seemed very sketchy. We felt like our guide was trying to prepare us for this "make a wish" moment all morning, only to find ourselves in a questionable portion of the city, being asked to pay money to make wishes. Needless to say, we declined this "wonderful opportunity" to make our wishes come true.
Only a part of the Jama Masjid - one of the largest mosques in India. Built under the supervision of Sheikh Salim Chisti (the Sufi saint), and his descendants.
It is a beautiful place.
kisses~
pdp* = public domain picture
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Next, come and visit Jaipur, aptly nicknamed,
"The Pink City."
"The Pink City."
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Fatehpur Sikri or the city of victory is a town in the Agra District of Uttar Pradesh, India. The city was founded in 1569 by the Mughal Emperor Akbar.
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